You may feel obligated to accept an invitation for an exit interview from a senior staff member or human resources representative, however, it's professionally acceptable to decline without facing any consequences from your current employer.
Exit interviews can be awkward and uncomfortable.
Employees don't want to burn any bridges on their way out the door and may sugarcoat their response. As a result, they might resist providing critical feedback, no matter how embedded feedback is in the organization's culture.
Exit interviews are entirely voluntary, so it's up to you whether you take part or not. You might request an interview because you've enjoyed working for the organisation and you'd like to pass on positive feedback, Kavenagh says.
Exit interviews help leaders dial into their company's current direction. Plus, they generate questions that recruiters can use in the hiring process to discern whether a candidate is a good fit. Exit interviews can uncover a multitude of issues that help you improve your processes and procedures.
Here are some tips to help you be more honest but still respectful in your exit interview: Don't exaggerate or embellish stories or feelings. Be straightforward and don't speak in riddles. Set aside time to reflect on your experience beforehand.
Be Honest. First and foremost, you must be honest with your HR department about your working experience. Remember, their primary goal for the exit interview is to gain insight into how the company works from an insider's perspective. If you want your feedback to be useful, you need to tell them the truth.
Can exit interviews be shared with managers? Not in any competently run HR department, no. The purpose of the exit interview is to help identify possible drivers behind why people are leaving the organization.
Discuss your reason for leaving
You should be as honest as possible but do it with empathy and respect. Whining about a bad boss or even a toxic workplace is very common among departing employees. However, we strongly suggest that you find a better way to express this without being arrogant.
Conducting the interview
Exit interviews should be conducted by a neutral third party, such as a human resources representative, to put the employee at ease and to encourage honest responses. If an exit interview is conducted by a departing employee's direct supervisor, that employee may be unwilling to be candid.
Through exit interviews, Human Resources can lower employee turnover and its associated costs. They can do this by using the feedback gathered in the interview to learn from a leaving employee's experiences.
Everything discussed during exit interviews must be kept confidential. HR should assure exiting employees that interview records are confidential. HR should tell employees how they'll present results to management (e.g. in aggregate form or anonymous feedback.)
An employer must give the employee the correct notice in writing, or it is a breach of the NES. If an employee does not give an employer enough notice, the employer may be able to deduct an amount from the employee's wages depending on the applicable award or registered agreement.
An exit interview should happen every time there is a separation between an employee and an employer. The trick is to have the discussion after the heat of emotions leave and before the employee becomes disengaged. As the HR manager, you want the employee to answer the questions honestly and openly, so timing is key.
Companies conduct exit interviews so to hear an employee's opinions about their job, supervisor, organization and more. An exit interview is a conversation between an employee and their employer—likely a human resources representative.
Exit Interviews should focus on the company, and the information you gather should be helpful, constructive feedback that you can use to move the company, employees and processes forward. These conversations also give employees an opportunity to provide their opinions and share what led to their decision to leave.
How long should an exit interview be? An exit interview should be around 5-10 questions and take your former employee 30 minutes to an hour. These exit interviews should be conducted either in-person or via online exit interview survey for more honest and candid feedback.
If you want this conversation to have a positive outcome, you must be honest with your leader as well as with yourself. It will be up to your boss to handle it accordingly, and if they don't, well, maybe that provides the answer you were looking for. However, you must approach with care and caution.
If you are resigning with immediate effect in protest at how you have been treated, a verbal resignation is enough, but it is better to put it in writing. Most employment contracts will require you to resign in writing – so, your notice period will not start to run until you give your employer written notice.
You don't have to give a reason for your resignation. However, if you're resigning because of something your employer did, you should say this in the letter. This will give you evidence if you decide to take legal action against them.
However, there are dangers associated with analyzing the playback, because of what can be inferred in any interpretation of answers, which can, therefore be mis-leading. It is far better to record the exit interview in writing and then get the person to sign off as confirmation that the record is true.